One of my favorite cool summer snacks is Salsa verde, and I’m not sure where I picked up how to make it but I’ve been making it since I lived in Cali. I love the freshness of tomatillos, cilantro, and lime on a hot summer day. It’s super easy to make, and hopefully you’ll be able to find these at your local supermarket or farmer’s market this summer. You won’t see “green tomatoes” though as much as the crispy leaves that hide these little green guys from view. When you clean them off their skin on the inside can be sticky, that combined with blending = likelihood for green goopy mess so dress accordingly (trust me, I’ve had my blender accident with this recipe and you don’t want to be picking bits of cilantro out of your favorite cashmere sweater- yes, it was a disaster)
You’ll need:
– blender or food processor (either will work)
– stockpot filled with boiling water
– 1-2 lbs green tomatillos
– 1 small onion
– 1 bunch cilantro
– 1 fresh lime for zest & juice
– 2-3 cloves of garlic
– 1 jalapeno
– salt & pepper to taste
– a bag of your favorite chips (our favorite is “Hint of Lime”)
First you’re going to peel and clean the tomatillos. To get the stickiness of the inner skin just rinse under warm water.
peel and clean you garlic cloves, and clean and dice the jalapeno really finely. You don’t want to leave it up to your blender/processor to break this into managable bits.
When your pot of water has come to a boil, put all but one or two of the tomatillos and onion (quartered) into the pot until the tomatillo starts to turn a little chartreuse/brown like the one in the top right of the picture. Once there remove and transfer to your blender/processor
Add the remaining tomatillos quartered as well as those that just finished boiling, garlic, jalapenos, and a dash of the water from the pot as liquid.
Grate the zest of lime into the mixture
Next juice the lime
Lightly chop your cleaned cilantro and add to the the already blended mixture.
Blend until you get a nice puree. If you like a chunkier texture you can save some of the onion and tomatillos for the last round and blend or pulse once or twice to incorporate without pureeing.
Garnish with a little salsa and pop open a little beer, maybe a micro-brew from Fire Island and you’ve got a backyard, balcony, rooftop, or beach worthy summer treat!